"Especially for You" is a song performed by the Australian recording artistsKylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, from Donovan's debut album Ten Good Reasons. The song was released as his album's second single on 28 November 1988 and was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. "Especially for You" received many positive reviews from older and contemporary critics, who deemed it one of the strongest of each singer's album, but also dubbed the song a classic. The song had commercial success, reaching number one in the UK, Ireland, Greece and Belgium and peaking inside the Top 5 in countries including Australia, New Zealand, France, Finland and Switzerland. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 20th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. Kylie Minogue also performed this song as a duet with Kermit the Frog on the showAn Audience with... Kylie Minogue in 2001.
Background
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan both appeared on the Australian TV series Neighbours but before they recorded the song, both left the series to concentrate on a music career. Kylie released the album Kylie, while Donovan was working on his studio albumTen Good Reasons. Both singers' production companyStock, Aitken & Waterman wrote a song for the singers so they could sing a duet on the track. The song was released as a single on 28 November 1988 but later was included on the American version of Kylie Minogue's second album, Enjoy Yourself. The single release came shortly after the UK broadcast of the Neighbours episode in which Kylie & Jason's characters, Charlene Mitchell and Scott Robinson, got married, and the singers were also a couple in real life at the time. In an interview with Sara Cox on BBC Radio 2 on Sounds of the 80s, broadcast 15 December 2017, Pete Waterman stated the original idea for the release of the duet between the two stars was suggested to the label by retail chain Woolworths who said they would order 250,000 copies of the record. Years after the single was released, the song has been included on the following compilations released by the singers: ; Kylie Minogue's compilations
"Especially for You" debuted at number two in Australia and stayed at that position for four consecutive weeks. This is Jason Donovan's highest peak in Australia, but not Kylie's, after setting a record with her first three singles debuting at Number One. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number four, until peaking at number two. To date, this is Donovan's only single to peak in the Top 20, and Kylie's highest and longest-charting single in that country, staying for 21 weeks. The song then debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart, staying there for four weeks, rising to number one for three consecutive weeks. The song stayed in the chart for 14 weeks in total. It was Kylie's second number-one out of seven, and Jason's first of four. In 2014 the song became one of only 154 singles in UK Official Charts History to reach 1 million sales. In the European markets, the song debuted at number 39 on the French Singles Chart and rose to number three for two consecutive weeks. This was Kylie's highest single in France until "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The song debuted at number 73 on the Dutch Top 40, peaking at number four for a sole week, and was her highest until "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". The song spent a sole week at number ten in Norway, making it one of her lowest singles on that chart. The song had debuted at number 15 in Sweden, until peaking at number twelve for a solitary week. In Switzerland, the song peaked at number two for a single week, staying in the charts for fifteen weeks. This was Minogue's highest until "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". The song peaked at number twelve in Austria for one week. "Especially for You" was Kylie's biggest-selling single in the United Kingdom until 2001's "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The duet is also the bestselling Stock Aitken Waterman-penned single, selling more than one million copies to date as of December 2014.
Track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Especially for You".
In July 2012, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan performed the song at the Hit Factory Live concert, their first performance together since 1989. On 9 September 2018, Donovan joined Minogue on stage to perform the song as part of Minogue's headlining set at Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park.
